Grenades kill five in Somalia's seat of parliament

Medeshi

Grenades kill five in Somalia's seat of parliament
Thu Nov 27, 2008 10:33am EST
By Mohamed Ahmed
BAIDOA, Somalia (Reuters) - At least five people were killed and 17 injured Thursday when assailants tossed grenades into a busy market in the town where Somalia's parliament sits, witnesses said.
Islamist fighters have waged a nearly two-year campaign against Somalia's interim administration after government forces backed by Ethiopian troops ousted them from the capital.
Islamists now hold most of south Somalia while the weak, Western-backed government controls just Mogadishu and Baidoa, the seat of parliament.
"At least three civilians died and 17 others were wounded after unidentified men hurled two hand grenades at Baidoa market," Hussein Mohamed, a witness, told Reuters.
A doctor at a hospital in Baidoa said two of the injured people taken there had later died.
The violence has killed 10,000 civilians since early 2007, created more than a million internal refugees, and left more than three million Somalis in need of food aid.
Authorities in the northern enclave of Somaliland on Thursday blamed a hardline group of Islamists known as al Shabaab for simultaneous suicide attacks that killed at least 30 people at the end of October.
Al Shabaab, which is on Washington's list of foreign terrorist groups, has refused to join a coalition government and launches regular attacks on the capital from nearby strongholds.
TACKLE PIRACY ON LAND
Nearly two decades of chaos in the Horn of Africa country has created a breeding ground for kidnappings, banditry and rampant piracy in the busy shipping lanes off Somalia.
The chairman of the African Union, Jean Ping, said on Thursday efforts to resolve piracy would be futile unless a solution for the chaos onshore was found.
"Everybody in the world is mobilizing forces to fight piracy on the high seas, but the piracy in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean is an extension of the disorder inside Somalia," Ping said.
"It would not bring any result without tackling the root cause of the piracy which is the conflict inside Somalia."
In the latest kidnapping, two journalists from Britain and Spain were seized in the north-eastern Puntland region, along with two Somali men accompanying them.
An international media watchdog said it was worried about their safety.
"This abduction is a reminder that banditry, piracy and politically-motivated crime pose a constant threat to foreigners -- journalists and humanitarian workers -- who go to Somalia," Reporters Without Borders said in a statement Thursday.
In another kidnapping this month, Somali gunmen crossed over into neighboring Kenya and snatched two Italian nuns.
A Kenyan official told Reuters Thursday that talks for their release were ongoing and no ransom demand had been made.
(Additional reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse in Addis Ababa, Noor Ali in Garissa, Kenya; Writing by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura; Editing by David Clarke)
(Email: nairobi.newsroom@reuters.com,

Somaliland Blames Oct Suicide Attacks On Shebab Group

Medeshi
Somaliland Blames Oct Suicide Attacks On Shebab Group
Thursday November 27th, 2008
(Updates with Shebab leaders named)
HARGEYSA, Somalia (AFP)--Multiple suicide attacks that killed 20 victims in Somaliland last month were masterminded by the Somalian Islamist group Shebab, according to the findings of an inquiry released Thursday.
"The terrorist attacks in Hargeysa were masterminded by Shebab radical leaders," Abdullahi Ismail Ali, the northern breakaway state's interior minister, told reporters as he unveiled the report by the government.
Six bombers were also killed in the three simultaneous car bombings on October 29 in Somaliland's capital Hargeysa.
The Shebab are an armed Islamist organization which was initially the military and youth branch of the Islamic Courts Union that briefly controlled most of Somalia in 2006 before being ousted by Ethiopian troops.
While the ICU's political leadership fled into exile, the Shebab reverted to guerrilla warfare. They have since achieved major military gains and now control much of the country.
"The Shebab planned and funded the attacks and sent agents to carry out the attacks," added Ali. "Six of the suicide bombers were killed in the three locations attacked. Five are from neighboring lawless Somalia and one from Somaliland."
The bombs targeted the local office of the U.N. Development Program, Ethiopia's representation in Somaliland and the presidential palace.
Twin suicide car bombings simultaneously targeted the offices of an anti-terrorism agency in two different locations in Bosasso, the economic capital of the neighboring breakaway state of Puntland.
The interior minister named some of the Shebab movement's top figures, including top spokesman Mukhtar Robow (also known as Abu Mansur) and overall leader Ahmed Abdi Godane (also known as Abu Zubayr).
"Senior leadership members Ahmed Abdi Godane and Mukhtar Robow were in charge of the operation but the Hargeysa attacks were conducted by Abdulfatah Abdullahi Gutale," Ali said. He added Gutale, who was not among the bombers, may have a U.S. green card and has lived in the U.S. in the Minneapolis area. The minister named Gutale's lieutenant as Nur Sheikh Mohamud. The minister also said 13 people suspected of taking part in the attacks are currently detained in Somaliland.

The Ogaden and the Ethiopian Government

Medeshi Nov 27, 2008

The Ogaden and the Ethiopian Government
Collective Punishment
(Full report : Collective Punishment: War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in the Ogaden area of Ethiopia’s Somali Region.”
Collective Punishment

Summary
Tens of thousands of ethnic Somali civilians living in eastern Ethiopia's Somali RegionalState are experiencing serious abuses and a looming humanitarian crisis in the context of a little-known conflict between the Ethiopian government and an Ethiopian Somali rebel movement. The situation is critical. Since mid-2007, thousands of people have fled, seeking refuge in neighboring Somalia and Kenya from widespread Ethiopian military attacks on civilians and villages that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
For those who remain in the war-affected area, continuing abuses by both rebels and Ethiopian troops pose a direct threat to their survival and create a pervasive culture of fear. The Ethiopian military campaign of forced relocations and destruction of villages reduced in early 2008 compared to its peak in mid-2007, but other abuses-including arbitrary detentions, torture, and mistreatment in detention-are continuing. These are combining with severe restrictions on movement and commercial trade, minimal access to independent relief assistance, a worsening drought, and rising food prices to create a highly vulnerable population at risk of humanitarian disaster.
Although the conflict has been simmering for years with intermittent allegations of abuses, it took on dramatic new momentum after the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) attacked a Chinese-run oil installation in Somali Region in April 2007, killing more than 70 Chinese and Ethiopian civilians. The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) government, led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, responded by launching a brutal counter-insurgency campaign in the five zones of Somali Region primarily affected by the conflict: Fiiq, Korahe, Gode, Wardheer, and Dhagahbur. In these zones the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) have deliberately and repeatedly attacked civilian populations in an effort to root out the insurgency.
Ethiopian troops have forcibly displaced entire rural communities, ordering villagers to leave their homes within a few days or witness their houses being burnt down and their possessions destroyed-and risk death. Over the past year, Human Rights Watch has documented the execution of more than 150 individuals, many of them in demonstration killings, with Ethiopian soldiers singling out relatives of suspected ONLF members, or making apparently arbitrary judgments that individuals complaining to soldiers or resisting their orders are ONLF supporters. These executions have sometimes involved strangulation, after which their bodies are left lying in the open as a warning, for villagers to bury. The information confirmed by Human Rights Watch is only a glimpse of what is taking place-real figures are likely to be higher.
Mass detentions without any judicial oversight are routine. Hundreds-and possibly thousands-of individuals have been arrested and held in military barracks, sometimes multiple times, where they have been tortured, raped, and assaulted. Confiscation of livestock (the main asset among the largely pastoralist population), restrictions on access to water, food, and other essential commodities, and obstruction of commercial traffic and humanitarian assistance have been used as weapons in an economic war aimed at cutting off ONLF supplies and collectively punishing communities that are suspected of supporting the rebels.
These crimes are being committed with total impunity, on the thinnest of pretexts. They are generating a perception in the area that simply being an ethnic Somali-and particularly a member of the Ogaadeeni clan which constitutes the backbone of the ONLF-is enough to render a person suspect in the eyes of the national government. As one young man told Human Rights Watch, "Anyone with a bowl of water is suspected of supplying the ONLF."
Ethiopian military personnel who ordered or participated in attacks on civilians should be held responsible for war crimes. Senior military and civilian officials who knew or should have known of such crimes but took no action may be criminally liable as a matter of command responsibility. The widespread and apparently systematic nature of the attacks on villages throughout Somali Region is strong evidence that the killings, torture, rape, and forced displacement are also crimes against humanity for which the Ethiopian government bears ultimate responsibility.
The ONLF has also been responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law (the laws of war). These include the summary execution of dozens of Chinese and Ethiopian civilians in the context of its April 2007 attack on the oil installation, the ONLF practice of killing suspected government collaborators, and the indiscriminate mining of roads used by government convoys. Those who ordered or carried out such acts are responsible for war crimes. Many civilians feel trapped with no refuge from ONLF pressure or the abuses by Ethiopian troops.
The Ethiopian government has repeatedly dismissed or minimized concerns about the human rights and humanitarian situation in Somali Region. It often claims, particularly to the international audience, that insecurity in the region is the work of Eritrean-backed "terrorists" seeking to destabilize Ethiopia. There is no question that the political dynamics in Somali Region intertwine with regional dynamics and are influenced by the continuing hostility between Eritrea and Ethiopia as well as events in neighboring Somalia. The application of terrorist rhetoric to the internal conflict with the ONLF, however, appears designed mainly to attract support from the United States as part of the "war on terror." It does not justify violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.
The government faces complex challenges in Somali Region. The ONLF, which claims to be seeking self-determination for the region, represents only a segment of the divided Ethiopian Somali community. There are legitimate fears that the escalating conflict across the border in Somalia could spill into Ethiopia. The authorities face difficult questions on how to best establish the rule of law in a remote, poverty-stricken region largely inhabited by pastoralists who have little knowledge of or confidence in state institutions that have long neglected them. Instead of addressing these challenges in good faith with efforts to build institutions and accountability to support the rule of law and reduce the appeal of armed groups, the government has implemented violent repression, echoing the response to the region of previous Ethiopian administrations.
The Ethiopian government's reaction to reports of abuses in 2007 has been to deny the allegations, disparage the sources, and actively restrict or control access to the region by journalists, human rights groups, and aid organizations (including by expelling the International Committee of the Red Cross in July 2007).
Due to increasing alarm over humanitarian conditions, particularly malnutrition rates among children, the UN and some nongovernmental organizations were permitted to expand humanitarian programs in parts of the region in late 2007, a small positive step. However these operations have been limited to certain geographic areas, are vulnerable to constant government threats and harassment, are sometimes unable to operate with sufficient independence from government control, and have no protection mandate or capacity to respond to the attacks on civilians which remain the biggest priority for many affected communities.
The Ethiopian government's politicized manipulation of humanitarian operations, particularly food distribution, plus the continued restrictions on commercial traffic and trade are creating a situation that-in combination with the drought produced by failed rains-could quickly slip into catastrophe. The Ethiopian government should take urgent action to ensure that the needs of vulnerable civilians in Somali Region are prioritized, including in emergency appeals. Yet due to government obstruction and restrictions on access to conflict-affected zones, humanitarian agencies cannot even conduct the independent nutritional assessments needed to fully assess the scale and formulate a proper response to the potential crisis.
The international response to the situation ranges from insipid to disingenuous. Western governments, including the US, UK, and European Union, which cumulatively provide almost US$2 billion of aid to Ethiopia every year and rely on the Ethiopian government as a key ally in a volatile region, have sent a number of delegations to the region but have refrained from even mild public concern, much less criticism. The US government, which is a staunch Ethiopian ally-particularly in counter-terrorism efforts-and has probably the greatest leverage of any of the donor governments, has minimized and possibly actively ignored internal concerns and reporting on the situation.
Instead of maintaining the complicity of silence, donor governments should start using their leverage to insist on three sets of immediate actions in Somali Region. Full recommendations are given below.
First, both the Ethiopian government and the ONLF should support full, unhindered and immediate access to the region for independent aid organizations, the media, and human rights groups, and the government should lift restrictions on commercial trade and civilian and livestock movement, including across the border with Somaliland. Implementing this recommendation would have an immediate positive effect on civilian access to water and grazing for their livestock, food, and local markets and could mitigate the impending food crisis. Humanitarian organizations should also have immediate, unimpeded access to conduct independent nutritional surveys in all affected areas and properly monitor food distribution to ensure it is not diverted.
Second, the Ethiopian government should immediately issue clear public orders to the armed forces and all other security agencies in Somali Region to cease abuses of civilians, including the military's forced relocations, extrajudicial executions, mass detentions, and mistreatment of detainees. The ONLF should also cease killings of civilians, including government officials, desist from the indiscriminate use of mines along key roads in Somali Region and publicly commit to abide by international humanitarian law.
Third, Ethiopian authorities should establish an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the allegations of abuses by all parties to the conflict and begin short and long-term efforts to ensure accountability for abuses by government security forces in Somali Region and elsewhere, including judicial and security sector reforms.
Rapid implementation of these recommendations could help to avert catastrophe in Somali Region. If the abuses continue, denied by the Ethiopian government and ignored by international donors, the outcome is all too clear: yet another cycle of human rights devastation, famine, and impoverishment in a region which already knows these trends all too well, and thousandsof new victims, embittered by the repeated denial of their rights as human beings and Ethiopians.

Journalists kidnapped in Somalia

Medeshi 26 Nov, 2008
Journalists kidnapped in Somalia
A British and Spanish journalist in Somalia have been kidnapped from the north-eastern Puntland region, local authorities say.
Government officials said the pair were taken from their hotel in the port city of Bossasso.
The BBC's Ahmed Ali says the journalists were in Bossasso to cover the story of piracy hijackings off Puntland's coast.
He says the foreigners were abducted by gunmen along with two local reporters.
"The two foreigners are British and Spanish," Abdulkebir Musa, Puntland's assistant minister for seaports, told news agency AFP.
The office of Puntland's president confirmed this information to the BBC.
Somalia has been wracked by civil conflict since 1991 and Islamist insurgents control of much of the country which has no functioning government.
Two other foreign journalists, who were abducted near the Somali capital, Mogadishu, in August, have still not been released.
Pirate attacks against fishing boats, cargo ships and yachts off Somalia's coast have surged this year.
Foreigners, who can be exchanged for large ransoms, are frequent targets.
Story from BBC NEWS:

Somaliland Navy: The Only Way to stop Somali Piracy

Medesh Nov 26, 2008

Somaliland Navy: The Only Way to stop Somali Piracy

Piracy is most lucrative business in many parts of Somalia including "Puntland" and Central Regions. Piracy attracted many jobless and poor Somalis, because piracy is very big and easy money. Millions of dollars were paid to the Somali pirates from "Puntland", which is much more than national budget.
In general, Somali Pirates focus on lawless areas of Somali water including busy shipping lanes near the "Puntland" and Indian Ocean including Gulf of Aden, where dozens of boats and ships been hijacked this year. According to the International Maritime Bureau, 69 ships have been attacked off Somalia since January; 27 were hijacked and 11 are still being held for ransom including recent Saudi Oil Tanker with ransom money of 25 billion dollars.
Somali pirates are holding more than 200 crew members of different hijacked ships and boats. USA and EU have agreed to joint anti-piracy operations off the Indian Ocean and Somali Water amid growing demands for action against the violent Somali pirates. The question is, how do you think Somali piracy should be tackled?
Majority of the pirates off "Puntland" Coast are former Police Officers turned Pirates, after "Puntland" administration failed to pay handsome salaries. Also, the high-ranking officials of both "Puntland" and Transitional Government of Somalia (TGS) in Mogadishu take loin´s share in the ransom money. "Puntland" President Adde Moose and TGS President Abdullah Yusuf are major players and architect of piracy business in Somalia. Yusuf served as "Puntland" leader at the beginning of piracy.
In other hand, Republic of Somaliland established well-trained Navy to protect its water from the piracy. Berbera Marine College is famous producer of highly-qualified Navy Officers, who follow International Maritime Bureau standards and regulations including those against piracy. Moreover, Somaliland formed Military, Police, Jails Authority, and carried out elections. Somaliland achieved all these accomplishments by its own.
Somaliland Navy has technology and military capabilities to eliminate the piracies and to blow up their bases inside Somalia including "Puntland". But unfortunately, the international community is wasting their precious time searching the solution of the piracy at the wrong place. The Solution is recognizing Somaliland, than Somaliland will establish as regional economic power and caretaker of world interest in the region. Somaliland has elected president and parliament, and furthermore, there is biometric voter registration taking place. This is the first time in African history.
Berbera Marine College is functioning almost in last five years with more than 100 Officers graduating from the college each year. Somaliland Government established the colleges after the need of Navy arise in the region, due to illegal fishing and human trafficking.
Today, neither human trafficking nor piracy persists within Somaliland water after the creation of Somaliland Navy Forces. Somaliland Navy Forces cooperate with International counterparts stationed in nearby Djibouti in tackling the pirates, and even Somaliland arrested many pirates, who later claimed to be "Puntland" former Police Officers.
The International community should support Somaliland diplomatically in order to end the piracy and violence inside Somalia, because Somaliland has all possible mechanisms to fight terrorists and pirates inside Somalia. Somaliland will play active role in war on terror and fight against piracy, in which Somaliland will be leading factor.
Somaliland is registering citizens using biometric technology. The national budget increased 27% in 2008 compare to 2007. All these progress was result of Somaliland´s commitment towards developing country and people. Also, Somaliland is managing steady increase in revenue and which is leading the rise in the national domestic production
In 1991 Somaliland reclaimed its lost independence from Somalia, and ever since it's peaceful and without piracy. Why? Because of there is real functioning institutions and elected government unlike Somalia with no central government and warlords are committing crimes against humanity. AU and IGAD isolated Somaliland enough, and it is time that AU and IGAD accept the reality inside Somaliland.
Illegal Activities in Somali Water:
Somalia remained without central government for decades, leading the country to be an example of failed state and center of lawlessness, which attracted many criminals and terrorists to use as hidey-hole.
Al-Qaeda fugitives from Iraq and Afghanistan settled in southern Somalia and formed religious fundamentalist groups like Al-Itahad Al-Islamiya and Al-Shabab armed groups. Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden visited Somalia in mid 1996 along with number of his children. Large number of Arab and Somali fighters in Afghanistan against the Russian occupation entered Somalia after collapse of Somali government 1991.
These terrorists created terror network across the region, and carried out bombing of US Embassies in Nairobi and Darussalam, in addition to recent suicide bombing in Hargiesa, Capital of Somaliland. These groups conducted explosives training to their colleagues. Many intelligence sources believe that Al-Qaeda used Somalia as center of carrying out operations against neighboring countries.
Furthermore, Mafia signed off many business deals to dump toxic nuclear waste in the Somali water, from Italia, German and many European Countries. In 1992, a contract to secure the dumping of toxic waste was made by Swiss and Italian shipping firms a chair Partners and Progresso, with Nur Elmi Osman, a former official appointed to the government of Ali Mahdi Mohamed, one of many militia leaders involved in the ousting of Mohamed Siad Barre, Somalia's former president.
UNEP Executive Director, told Al-Jazeera TV Channel, that he unveiled firms was set up as fictitious companies by larger industrial firms to dispose of hazardous waste. These companies with Mafia signed contracts with firms, using Somali Warlords in Mogadishu. Even Somali fishermen reported large containers at the Mogadishu coast washed out by the Tsunami.
"At the time, it felt like we were dealing with the Mafia, or some sort of organized crime group, possibly working with these industrial firms," he said.
The International Community organized 14 Peace Conferences between the fighting Somali groups to settle their difference but all failed, which means these groups are not willing to live in peace. Hence, the International Community, AU and IGAD should review their policy towards Somaliland and not consider the old version of respecting the unity of Somalia: Somaliland is free and constructive nation and should be accepted by the regional and international communities. By Abdulaziz Al-Mutairi

The Second American Revolution

Medeshi Nov 26, 2008

The Second American Revolution

Alemayehu G. Mariam

Best Hope of Earth
In the first American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson declared to a “candid world” that “when in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another…, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” That revolution was against King George III.
In the Second American Revolution, Barack Obama surveyed the devastation wreaked upon American society and America’s role in the world in the last eight years and declared that in the course of global human events it becomes necessary for America to reunite with the “opinions of mankind”, re-establish its position of global leadership and remain the “best hope of Earth.” Of course, that was not Barack’s original idea; it was an idea put to him by people around the world:
On a trip to the Middle East, I met Israelis and Palestinians who told me that peace remains a distant hope without the promise of American leadership. At a camp along the border of Chad and Darfur, refugees begged for America to step in and help stop the genocide that has taken their mothers and fathers, sons and daughters. And along the crowded streets of Kenya, I met throngs of children who asked if they'd ever get the chance to visit that magical place called America. I still believe that America is the last, best hope of Earth. We just have to show the world why this is so. This President may occupy the White House, but for the last six years the position of leader of the free world has remained open. And it's time to fill that role once more.

The Second American Revolution is against the calamitous legacy of President George W.

The Second American Revolution: Saving the Best Hope of Earth

It is the Second American Revolution, and it’s being televised. It is a Movement of the American People (The MAP). But Barack calls it “change”. He talked about “changing America” at every campaign stop. After his Iowa primary victory, he told South Carolinians that “our time for change has come.” In his final victory speech he said, “It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America… But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you. This is your victory.”
For the faint of heart, perhaps the word “change” would do. But if one carefully considers the totality of Barack’s message and campaign strategy, it is plain to discern that he is really talking about a Second American Revolution in the form of a new MAP. As Barack said, in charge of the new MAP are ordinary Americans who had long felt marginalized, disenfranchised and victimized by years of deception, corruption and the hypocrisy of the Bush Administration. Bush and his arrogant “neoconservative” con men plunged America into a disastrous war in Iraq on bogus justifications. Bush made sure the proverbial image of the “ugly American” was seared into the consciences of people around the world with the ghastly photographs of torture victims in Abu Ghraib prison, and zombied terrorism suspects caged in Gitmo detention camp for years without due process of law. Bush made it possible for Wall Street sharks to squander billions of dollars in investments of the American people, and swiftly rewarded these brazen crooks with a taxpayer bailout. (They were not unlike the defendant who killed his parents and then asked the court for mercy because he was an orphan.)
Bush and his cronies stoked up the “culture wars” polarizing American society on the “hot-button” issues of abortion, gun politics, separation of church and state, affirmative action, the death penalty, privacy, sexual orientation, censorship and so on. When these issues waned, they toiled to create an Amerika that was divided by race, ethnicity, social class and political affiliation under the wicked GOP (Republican Party) political tactician and Ubermeister Karl Rove. When all failed, they scrambled to invent a Palin-esque “real America” where Americans who hold “patriotic values” can hide in the “pro-America areas of this great nation”. For eight years under George Bush, America struggled to be a polity without policy, and Americans put up with an administration bereft of governance. America sleepwalked for eight years without a national policy on health care, energy, immigration, the environment, the economy or foreign policy. To add insult to injury, George Bush thought he had gotten away with it all. This past May, he sighed contentedly: "I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office."Healing these and other virtual atrocities committed on the American body politics could not be achieved by mere “change” or “reform”. “Change” suggests making alterations, modifications and substitutions. The damage done to America over the past eight years is so total and devastating, only a Second American Revolution with a MAP can repair America from within and without and make her whole once again. Much to the surprise of George W., there will soon be a really “smart person in the Oval office to figure it out.” The Man with the Plan, with the MAP to lead the Revolution from the Oval Office is Barack Obama. Like any revolution, it is not going to be easy. Barack understands the revolution will be long and hard fought, and formidable challenges lie ahead. That is why he said, “The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get there.”
America is Back, on Track, with Barack Who is Sharp as a Tack!
But what is Barack promising the American people in the Second Revolution, in the MAP? His promise is that it will take some time to repair the damage done by Bush’s unrestrained unilateralism and militarism, but in time America can regain its global leadership acting in concert with its allies in the spirit of multilateralism and collective action. He is saying that the damage done to the American body politics by racial, ethnic and class divisions will take time to heal, but they will be healed as Americans of all backgrounds come together in the spirit of E Pluribus Unum (out of many one) and deal with the enormous challenges facing them. He is promising the American people that the damage done to the American psyche by those who use religion as a weapon of mass spiritual warfare and deception in the culture wars; the violence done to party politics by creating red and blue states; the ideological cleavage that separates liberals and conservatives; the sexism and racism that puts asunder Americans by gender, race and ethnicity will be overcome, but it will take time. He is saying that millions of Americans have now opened their minds, their eyes, and hearts, and keenly understand that they share the same destiny; and though they may have come to America in different ships from all corners of the world, they are now in the same boat. Barack is promising that the American people united can never be defeated. That’s right. America is back, on track, with Barack who is sharp as a tack!
America Will No Longer Be a Welfare Department for Dictators
There is an important postscript to the Second American Revolution. It is no longer going to be business as usual in Washington, D.C. Barack did not mince his words when he slammed the creepy lobbyists and influence peddlers who shuffle stealthily in the halls of government. He said lobbyists, “will not run my White House. You [the people] will help me run my White House, when I'm president. I don't take money from lobbyists. I don't take money from PACs. They have not funded my campaign. I don’t take money from federal registered lobbyists, because I want to answer to you when I’m in the White House. I don’t want to answer to all these fat-cat lobbyists!” Such sublime words, beauteous poetry to our ears as we continue our grassroots advocacy to get H.R. 2003 before President Obama for his signature. (Oh! Pity for those poor “fat-cat lobbyists” at D.L. A. Piper! Excommunicated from the White House, the U.S. Congress and the State Department! How the tables have turned!) Now is the time for the people — for us — to help Barack “run the white House”, and the Democrats run Congress; and give a helping hand to whomever Barack appoints to lead the State Department.

Months ago, we cautioned the panhandling tin-pot dictators of the world begging alms from the American taxpayer[1]:

Watch out, petty dictators! A fierce wind of change is blowing across America. A new sheriff is coming to town. His name is Barack Obama. He does not carry a six-shooter. But he carries a law book. And he’s laying down the law for all the tin-pot dictators of the world: Y’all better shape up, or Barack’s Posse will be right on your tail. That goes for the outlaw Meles Zenawi and his gang of murderers and bank robbers, too… Tin-pot dictators and thugs, listen carefully. Read the writing on the wall. Barack will stand against you as long as you keep slaughtering your people, jail your innocent citizens by the hundreds of thousands and starve the rest by the millions. Barack will turn you back when you come to America’s doorsteps panhandling for military aid so that you can declare war on your people, and destroy your neighbors. Barack will not listen to your BS about democracy while you mercilessly crush legitimate democratic opposition, destroy press freedoms, disregard the rule of law and flout international law. Barack will not be scammed by your foolish threats of imaginary terrorists just so you can trap America in a regional war. No brownie points for offering to fight a needless destructive war in the name of America.
Well, there ain’t no doubt about it. Barack is in the saddle now, law book and lasso in hand. Right-wing haters and tin-pot dictators: GAME OVER!

Toxic scandal in Somalia

Medeshi 26 Nov , 2008

Toxic scandal in Somalia gave birth to new piracy
The escapades of Somali pirates made headlines last week. But the media has ignored the injustice behind the phenomenon, writes Simon Assaf
When the Asian tsunami of Christmas 2005 washed ashore on the east coast of Africa, it uncovered a great scandal.
Tonnes of radioactive waste and toxic chemicals drifted onto the beaches after the giant wave dislodged them from the sea bed off Somalia.
Tens of thousands of Somalis fell ill after coming into contact with this cocktail. They complained to the United Nations (UN), which began an investigation.
“There are reports from villagers of a wide range of medical problems such as mouth bleeds, abdominal haemorrhages, unusual skin disorders and breathing difficulties,” the UN noted.
Some 300 people are believed to have died from the poisonous chemicals.
Many European, US and Asian shipping firms – notably Switzerland’s Achair Partners and Italy’s Progresso – signed dumping deals in the early 1990s with Somalia’s politicians and militia leaders.
This meant they could use the coast as a toxic dumping ground. This practice became widespread as the country descended into civil war.
Nick Nuttall of the UN Environment Programme said, “European companies found it was very cheap to get rid of the waste.
“It cost as little as £1.70 a tonne, whereas waste disposal costs in Europe was something like £670 a tonne.
“And the waste is of many different kinds. There is uranium radioactive waste. There is lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury. There is also industrial waste, hospital wastes, chemical wastes – you name it.”
But despite the evidence uncovered by the tsunami, an investigation into the practice of toxic dumping was dropped. There was no compensation and no clean up.
In 2006 Somali fishermen complained to the UN that foreign fishing fleets were using the breakdown of the state to plunder their fish stocks. These foreign fleets often recruited Somali militias to intimidate local fishermen.
Despite repeated requests, the UN refused to act. Meanwhile the warships of global powers that patrol the strategically important Gulf of Aden did not sink or seize any vessels dumping toxic chemicals off the coast.
So angry Somalis, whose waters were being poisoned and whose livelihoods were threatened, took matters into their own hands. Fishermen began to arm themselves and attempted to act as unofficial coastguards.
They began to seize ships in late 2005. These were released after a ransom was paid. Among them were cargo vessels, luxury cruise liners and tuna fishing boats.
Januna Ali Jama, a Somali pirate leader, explained that their actions were motivated by attempts to stop the toxic dumping.
He said that the £5.4 million ransom they demanded for the return of a Ukrainian ship would go towards cleaning up the mess.
Ali Jama said the pirates were “reacting to the toxic waste that has been continually dumped on the shores of our country for nearly 20 years.
“The Somali coastline has been destroyed. We believe this money is nothing compared to the devastation that we have seen on the seas.”
But the nature of this piracy soon began to change. Members of the Somali government, who were part of the then Western-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG), started to get involved.
They transformed the piracy operation into a multi-million dollar industry that funded their lavish lifestyles.
The TFG was ousted during a popular rebellion in July 2006 led by the Union of Islamic Courts. Later that year the US backed Ethiopia’s invasion of Somalia to drive the Islamic Courts out.
This provoked an insurgency labelled by some as the “third front” of the “war on terror”.
The US became embarrassed when it emerged that its allies in the TFG were deeply involved in piracy. As concerns grew for the safety of ships heading towards the Suez Canal, global powers began to take notice.
Indian and US warships began to sink Somali fishing boats if they sailed too close to cargo vessels or trawlers. These warships transformed Somalia’s coastal waters into a “free fire zone”. When a giant Saudi oil tanker was seized, these powers declared all-out war on the pirates.
British foreign minister David Miliband recently boasted that Britain would be taking the lead in cracking down on the pirates.
The Royal Navy will take command of a European fleet of warships as part of “Operation Atalanta”, he said.
The target will be the Somalis – not the vessels dumping waste or the illegal foreign fishing fleets.
As global powers dispatch their warships to the Somali coast, the problems that caused this outbreak of piracy remain unresolved.
European, US and Asian ships will continue to dump hazardous waste and plunder coastal fishing stocks – leading to continuing misery for Somalis.

Former Ottawa gas station operator rules home state of Somali pirates

Medeshi Nov 26, 2008

Former Ottawa gas station operator rules home state of Somali pirates

Many of Somalia's pirates are based in a region called Puntland, whose president is a former Ottawa resident presiding over a government accused of turning a blind eye to the pirates' hijacking of foreign vessels.
CBC News
Many of the pirates hijacking vessels in the region are based in an autonomous region called Puntland, beyond the control of what passes for a central government in Somalia.
The president of Puntland for the past three years has been Mohamud Muse Hersi, a former Ottawa gas station operator.
Hersi emigrated to Canada in the 1980s, bought a gas station and raised a family, but his clan connections to Somalia remained strong. When the elders of Puntland were looking for a new president in 2005, they chose Hersi.
There are about a dozen hijacked ships anchored off the Puntland coast at the moment, waiting as the pirates and shipowners haggle over ransom money.
Hersi's critics accuse him and his ministers of taking bribes from the pirates to look the other way.
Ahmed Hussen, president of the Canadian Somali Congress, says he lacks evidence of such corruption but adds: "It would be inconceivable for all this piracy to be going on on the coast of Puntland without at least the knowledge, if not the collusion, of the Puntland government."
Hersi vigorously denies the charge. As proof, he points to two successful counterattacks against the pirates mounted by Puntland's coast guard.
Roger Middleton, an analyst at the London-based Royal Institute of International Affairs, says the two hijackings Hersi's government interfered with involved cargos of direct economic interest to the regime.
"In one case, the cement that was in the ship belonged to one of the ministers in the government, so there was clearly a reason why they wanted to get involved," he told CBC News.
If the Puntland government really wanted to stop the pirates, it would, Middleton says. But piracy has become the region's most profitable industry. Middleton estimates the pirates will net about $50 million US this year while the Puntland government's annual budget is just $20 million US.
Formally, Hersi is president of the Puntland State of Somalia, carved out of the collapsed country in 1998. It claims about a third of the national territory and calls itself "part of an anticipated Federal State of Somalia."
Hussen of the Canadian Somali Congress says Puntland has been sliding toward the abyss under Hersi's rule.
"I don't think it's reached the stage of anarchy yet, but it's on the verge of that," he told CBC News.
In a briefing paper on piracy published last month, Middleton made these points:
- Piracy off the Somali coast has more than doubled in 2008, with more than 60 ships attacked so far.
- Pirates are regularly demanding and getting million-dollar ransom payments and are becoming more aggressive and assertive.
- Money from ransom is helping to pay for the war in Somalia, and the high level of piracy is making aid deliveries to the drought-stricken country more difficult and costly.
- The danger and cost of piracy, including soaring insurance premiums, may force ships to avoid the Suez Canal route and sail around Africa, raising transportation costs and hence the price of oil and manufactured goods shipped to Europe and North America.
- Piracy could cause a major environmental disaster if a tanker is sunk, run aground or set afire - and the pirates' ever more powerful weaponry makes this increasingly likely.

Somalia Govt to Share Power With Some Opposition

Medeshi 26 Nov, 2008

Somalia Govt to Share Power With Some Opposition
UN announces power-sharing deal between Somali government and faction of the opposition
By MOHAMED OLAD
The Associated Press
MOGADISHU, Somalia
Somalia's weak transitional government has agreed to share power with a faction of the country's opposition, the United Nations said Wednesday.
The agreement was unlikely to change the political chaos in Somalia, however, as the extremist group at the center of a deadly insurgency did not participate.
The power-sharing deal calls for doubling the number of parliament seats to 550, with 200 going to the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia — a relatively moderate group that split from the Shabab extremist group.
The U.S. State Department considers al-Shabab, or "The Youth," a terrorist organization.
No timeline was set for implementing the deal, which also extends parliament's term two years beyond its original end date of August 2009.
"We are happy with what we have achieved so far," Abdirahman Warsame, chief negotiator for the opposition alliance, told The Associated Press by telephone from the U.N.-backed talks in Djibouti. "What we are waiting for now is the election of the leadership that would haul the country out of its current chaos."
Calls to government negotiators were not immediately returned.
Somalia has had no effective government for two decades, and the U.N.-backed transitional administration has failed to exert any real control. Making matters worse, President Abdullahi Yusuf recently has been feuding openly with the prime minister, with each accusing the other of hampering plans for peace.
Meanwhile, a humanitarian crisis has worsened with high food prices and drought.
African Union peacekeepers have struggled to maintain security, with only 2,600 troops of the mission's approved 8,000 on the ground.
The U.N. Security Council said that, if Somalia can improve security and political reconciliation, it would consider sending U.N. peacekeepers to replace AU forces.
Somalia's transitional government was formed in 2004, but then lost control of the capital, Mogadishu, and most of the south to Islamic militants. In December 2006 it called in troops from neighboring Ethiopia to help retake control. But the insurgency remains a disruptive force and a threat to Yusuf's government.
The U.N. envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, said he hopes the new power-sharing deal will lead to "Somali leaders working together, wholeheartedly and committed to the dignity of the Somali people."

Somali pirates: we’re going to fish whatever passes through our sea because we need to eat

Medeshi

Nov 25, 2008

Somali pirates insist that they still wanted $25 million for the hip's release

The leader of Somali pirates holding the Sirius Star denied yesterday that the hijackers had lowered their ransom demand, insisting they still wanted $25 million for the ship’s release.
“We have not changed the amount of the ransom, it remains at exactly $25 million. If we want to change it, it will have to be agreed unanimously with all the people involved,” Mohamed Sayeed told AFP. Earlier reports suggested the ransom demand had been reduced to $15 million.
Sayeed was reached by phone in the coastal village of Haradheere where the Sirius Star was anchored after its capture. He warned against any forceful rescue of the huge tanker carrying around $100 million worth of crude oil.
“We are moving the ship from time to time and from place to place for tactical reasons. It’s like a war game. We are not taking the ship too far,” said Sayeed. “We still have enough people on the ground and on the ship. Nobody can terrorize us. Any attempt to take the ship by force is futile.”
One of the Somali pirates told the BBC they have no intention of harming the 25 crew members. The man, calling himself Daybad, spoke to the BBC’s Somali Service via telephone from the Sirius Star. He said the ship’s crew members were being treated humanely.
“The crew members are fine. We are treating them according to the charter of how you treat prisoners of war. They are allowed to contact their families. They are not prisoners, they can move from place to place, wherever they want to, they can even sleep on their usual beds and they have their own keys. The only thing they are missing is their freedom to leave the ship.”
Daybad said the pirates were fully aware of the consequences of their actions, but the lack of peace in Somalia and the plunder of its waters by foreign fishing trawlers had driven them to piracy. “Our fish were all eradicated so we can’t fish now. So we’re going to fish whatever passes through our sea because we need to eat

Puntland State and Lootah Investment sign strategic agreements worth Dhs170m

Medeshi Nov 24, 2008
Government of Punt Land State of Somalia, Lootah Investment sign strategic agreements worth Dhs170m
Lootah Group, a regional industrial group operating in Middle East and Africa, has signed incorporation agreements with the Punt Land State of Somalia Government, initially worth Dhs170m.
United Arab Emirates: Monday, November 24 - 2008

(The site of the project)
The newly born companies will strive to develop, manage and operate the Bosaso Airport, Seaport and a Free-Trade Zone as well as co-manage state customs. According to the agreement, a set of new companies will be established. The Bosaso Airport Company will have a mission to provide leading airport aero-ground services. It will initialy work to complete the Airport Complex towards international standards including its new 3.4 km runway, taxi and apron areas, main and auxiliary buildings and security perimeters. The Bosaso Seaport Company shall have a mission to provide attractive seaport services by increasing berth depths and maneuvering capabilities, increasing the quayside by 400%, and establishing a prefab concrete block shoulder at sea to protect basin from swell. The Bosaso Free Trade Zone over 500,000 square metres shall improve logistic services and cost/performance to all merchants and traders alike. Integratia Business Group, a subsidiary of Lootah Group has also signed a professional services agreement to co-manage Bosaso Customs for the coming 10 years and introduce best practices that will increase agility to material movement, improve merchant satisfaction and add to state earnings. On the onset, all the current business areas; laws, bylaws, policies, standards, regulatory, work processes, human capacity, financial and technologies, will be developed and set to meet the international standards for safety, security as well as boost of overall effectiveness and effciency. His Excellency, The President of the Punt Land State of Somalia Mohamud Musa Hirsi, welcomed the agreement saying:
'These infrastructure and services initiatives are key to position our state on the fast track for growth. At the home of Africa, Bosaso is situated at the crossroad of business and trade. We should put all our effort to make the Punt Land State of Somalia a safe place for foreign investors, and help grow our economy. These new initiatives will also have a positive impact on the people of Somalia, as new job opportunities arise. We believe that this new partnership with Lootah Investment will help us reach a better future.'Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed Lootah, Chairman of Lootah Investment and Lootah Group, added:
'We are very committed to support the growth vision of his Excellency the President of the Punt Land of Somalia and we are very privileged to partner with the state government. We have carried out many projects across the region and we have the appropriate knowledge to help grow these initiatives to fruition and success.'
Related Information:About Lootah Group: Lootah Group of Companies is a leading business group operating in the Middle East & Africa offering quality and professional products and services across industries including construction, manufacturing, ready mix, poultry and real estate. About Integratia Business Group: This is a subsidiary of Lootah Group that specialises in setting governance as well as performance Management Systems. The group is committed to the success of any projects entered by sharing the cost, risk and returns. For more information, please contact: Mohd.Salim Allawi PR Assistant The Idea Agency P.O. Box 50887 Dubai, UAE Office 503 Al Attar Tower, Sheikh Zayed Road Tel: +971 4 34 34 424 Fax: +971 4 34 34 305
© 1996-2008 by AME Info FZ LLC / Emap Limited. All rights reserved.This story was posted by Siba Sami AmmariMonday, November 24
UAE local time (GMT+4)

Interview– Eng.Abdirahman Saylici, Vice Presidential Candidate

Medeshi Nov 24, 2008

SOMALILAND AMERICAN COUNCIL (SAC)
Interview with Mr. Abdirahman Saylici, Vice Presidential Candidate, Kulmiye Party .

You are cordially invited to participate in this conference call hosted by Somaliland American Council.

The Keynote speaker is Mr. Abdirahman Saylici, Vice Presidential Candidate, Kulmiye
Date and time: Sunday, November 30, at 1 pm ET Time (6pm London time)

Agenda; State of Somaliland, Voter registration, & Upcoming Elections Keynote Speaker; Mr. Abdirahman Saylici, Vice Presidential Candidate, Kulmiye

To participate in this conference call please do the following: 1 - Call the conference bridge number: Dial-in #: (712) 432-1001 2 - Enter conference Attendee Passcode: 440-972-632 then (enter #) 3 - If you want to ask Mr. Abdirahman questions please email questions to: questions@somalilandamerican.com
Somaliland American Council http://www.somalilandamerican.com/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PRESS RELEASE Contact: contact@somalilandamerican.com

Web site: http://www.somalilandamerican.com/

SOMALILAND CAN PROTECT AGAINST PIRACY IN THE REDSEA

Despite the fact that there are numerous opportunities where Somaliland can protect the interest of the international community better than anyone else, the International Community has acted as an ostrich that buried its head in the sand about the acknowledgment and the recognition of the Republic of Somaliland. Clearly this is another case where Somaliland can protect the interest of the International Community in the redsea waters to eliminate piracy. The map above shows that Somaliland successfully eliminated piracy in its waters, but the area close to Yemen and Puntland state of Somalia are the areas where all the piracy incidents have taken place in 2008. This unacceptable levels of piracy off of the coast of Somalia is presented challenges for the International Community where some nations are completely routing their ships out of the redsea at great cost. It is time that the international Community pays attention to Somaliland to bring normalcy back into the redsea waters. Please look at the following map that shows the incidents of piracy in the redsea: This map is published by Internaitonal Maritime Bureau.
It is an open secrete in Somalia that Puntland state and its people has founded, administer, support, and protect the piracy in the redsea waters. The above map shows that all of the piracy incidents happen in the waters that are closest to the Puntland state of Somalia;The above map that shows lists of piracy incidents in 2008; this map is provided by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) http://www.icc-ccs.org [click the Live Piracy Map]

Piracy a growth industry in Somalia

Medeshi Nov 24 , 2008

Piracy a growth industry in Somalia
ON Friday afternoon, pirates in control of the African Sanderling, a large cargo ship anchored off Somalia, were lazing in the sun waiting for their ransom money when the telephone on the bridge rang.
Muhammad, the man who answered, was rather polite for a pirate from a heavily armed gang that had seized the ship last month. "Plizz, excuse me," he said, sounding more Cap'n Jack Sparrow than bloodthirsty Blackbeard. "Who are you?"
After The Sunday Times explained it was calling to find out what was happening to the hijacked vessel, Muhammad was as helpful as his mangled English allowed.
"The ship, the crew and the captain is OK. No problem. Only problem, money."
Have you demanded a ransom? "Yeah."
How much?
"First, $US8 million ($12.6 million). Then they (the ship owners) make bargain, then reduce, then more bargain, $2 million. Then they reduce it $1.2 million. Last we said we need $2 million."
The ship, a 59,000-tonne bulk carrier, was hijacked on October 15 with its crew of 21 Filipinos. What will the pirates do if they do not get a $US2 million ransom?
"Ah yeah," said Muhammad. "If we miss the money, the ship and the crew will be missing." As in missing, presumed dead.
The price of Somali piracy is rising fast. Yesterday, The Sunday Times also contacted a young pirate aboard the Sirius Star supertanker, which was hijacked eight days ago, 800km out in the ocean off the coast of Kenya. He said his gang was demanding a $US17 million ransom for the ship, which is carrying $US100 million worth of oil.
Another cut-throat with scruples, he said that the two British seamen among the 25 crew being held hostage were unharmed.
"The British are OK and we don't have any problems with them," said Muhammad Dashishle, 24. "All the people we captured with the ship are OK."
The risk of a violent clash remains, however. An Islamic extremist group has threatened to seize the ship and Dashishle said the hijackers would fight any attack. "We have plenty of men to defeat them," he said. "We are not afraid."
As incidents of piracy proliferate and ransom demands soar, politicians and shipping lines around the world are growing more and more alarmed - and trade is being disrupted.
On Friday, Maersk, the shipping company, ordered all its vulnerable vessels heading from the Arabian Gulf to Europe to avoid the Suez canal and follow the much longer route around the Cape of Good Hope.
Governments fear that some ransom money may be ending up with Islamic extremists, and terrorists may yet turn hijacked ships into weapons.
Until now, many observers had assumed that pirates picked off vessels at random. Shipping and security experts, however, suspect they are increasingly using spies in ports such as Dubai to alert them to the best targets.
It is also shockingly simple for anyone to track vessels online or to tune into ships' AIS (automatic identification system) beacons. They transmit a ship's exact position, size and cargo.
"It's serious," said Peter Hinchliffe, a director of the International Chamber of Shipping. "If the Sirius Star means pirates can attack deep in the ocean, warship patrols will not be enough. We need maritime patrol aircraft to protect shipping. We may even push to get the US Navy to dedicate an aircraft carrier to the area."
Any large cargo ship cruising at less than 15 knots, especially if low in the water, is easy prey for pirates in speedboats that can reach 20 knots. One of those captured in September was the bulk carrier Great Creation, which was released by pirates only last Wednesday.
"The pirates are just swarming around, even with all the warships," said the carrier's captain, who spoke from his vessel as it was heading away from Somali waters and asked to be identified only as Ganesh.
"They come far out from land in the mother ship and when they see a target they launch speedboats. They threatened us with guns, RPGs. When they reached us, they fired to make us stop."
The Great Creation was held for two months off the Somali coast. The captain and crew were confined to the ship's accommodation block, although were otherwise well treated.
"They kept us inside but we weren't locked up. As long as the owner is negotiating, they were well behaved," said Ganesh. "But if the owners don't co-operate, or if there is some problem with communication or there is a misunderstanding - then the situation could be very different. Otherwise, though, they won't intentionally kill."
As soon as it is clear pirates are going to capture a ship, the crew activates the ship security alert system - in effect, a panic button that transmits a warning to the owner.
"The guys that get on board hold a gun to the master's head and say I am going to kill you unless you do as I say," said Graeme Gibbon-Brooks of Dryad Maritime Intelligence Service. "The threat is always one of violence but it's rarely carried out. You can't ransom a burning hulk or a dead body."
Instead, cat-and-mouse negotiations ensue, often lasting weeks. Several problems are arising with Somali pirates, according to Darren Dickson of Drum-Cussac, a security firm staffed by former special forces personnel: "The talks change over the weeks. Pirates may be fuelled by drink and drugs (many chew khat, a narcotic) and they forget what they agreed." Pirates are also changing the way ransoms are delivered.
"The problem is the pirates don't want the money in a bank in Somalia," said Mr Dickson. "It's hard to access and the warlords get most of it."
So now some demand cash, air-dropped at sea or delivered at an offshore rendezvous.
"It increases the cost and risk," said Mr Dickson. "There have been attacks by other pirates on the way in (to deliver the ransom). Air drop is a bit better; there are firms doing it out of Dubai and Mombasa."
According to Mr Dickson, the pirates generally abide by the rules. They sit on the stern of the ship, "divvying up the cash, then off they go", setting the ship and crew free.
So far the casualties have been mainly attackers rather than merchant crews. In a recent clash, the (British) Royal Navy killed two suspected pirates and captured eight others, who were handed over to Kenyan authorities. Although two seafarers have died in pirate incidents, crews generally emerge physically unscathed.
French investigators who boarded a hijacked yacht in April even reported finding a pirates' "good conduct guide" that forbade sexual assault.
The sheer number of attacks threatens serious disruption to shipping and more violent clashes. Piracy is the only growth industry in Somalia, one of the world's poorest countries. Its unlikely epicentre is the tiny fishing village of Eyl on the northeast coast in a region called Puntland.
Less than a year ago it was mostly a jumble of crumbling, one-storey concrete buildings with tin roofs and wooden shacks on the beach. Bare-chested fishermen in knee-length sarongs used to set out on small wooden boats as their ancestors had for centuries.
Now goats wandering the dirt roads jostle with new four-wheel-drives as piracy brings a sudden influx of wealth - an estimated $45 million this year. The lead pirates have near-celebrity status and are building palatial villas. Some members of Somalia's ramshackle Government, many of whom are natives of Puntland, are said to get payoffs.
"The pirates are making so much money," said one source in Bossaso, the capital of Puntland. "They have taken second wives, they are all building new homes and buying new cars, like the latest Land Cruiser."
They are also acquiring satellite phones and GPS navigation equipment to co-ordinate operations. One expert in neighbouring Kenya claims the pirates have become so sophisticated that they are backed by "investors", who fund the upfront costs of hijackings in return for a share of the ransom.
What can be done to stop the pirates? Ship owners are reluctant to hire armed guards for fear of escalating confrontations. But nine days ago three former British marines posted as private guards on a tanker in the Gulf of Aden demonstrated one weapon that might be useful.
When speedboats containing gunmen approached, the guards, working for a firm called Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Solutions, deployed "magnetic audio devices" that emitted directed soundwaves of high intensity. Even at 600m the noise is unbearable.
The former marines trained the devices on the speedboats, which kept their distance and after 10 minutes turned away to seek another target.
Many shipping and security experts doubt naval force will be a cure. "The long-term answer to this is not more warships," said Mr Gibbon-Brooks. "The area is just so big. The answer is to sort out Somalia, which is a failed state. But that's a five-year job, 10 years probably."
The Sunday Times

Ethiopian troops remain in Somali capital

Medeshi

Ethiopian troops remain in Somali capital

MOGADISHU, Somalia (CNN) -- Ethiopian troops have not yet begun to withdraw from key positions in the capital of Somalia two days after they were supposed to do so under a peace agreement designed to end years of conflict.
The Ethiopians had agreed to withdraw from some bases by Friday under an agreement signed last month by the Somali transitional government and a rebel faction known as the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia.
Ethiopia invaded Somalia two years ago to expel Islamic forces who had conquered Mogadishu. Under the deal signed October 26, a cease-fire between the transitional government and the ARS went into effect November 5. The Ethiopians were to withdraw from from key positions in the capital on November 21, and leave the country entirely early in 2009.
Somali Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein has said that Ethiopian troops will withdraw as agreed.
Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a moderate leader of the rebel ARS, told the local radio station Shabelle Saturday that the Ethiopian troops would pull out on schedule.
Insurgents clashed with Somali government forces and their Ethiopian allies Friday, witnesses said, leaving at least 11 fighters dead.
The fighting started when armed insurgent fighters attacked the house of a local commissioner in Mogadishu's Wadajir district, sparking heavy fighting between the government troops guarding the house and the insurgents.
"I saw 11 men wearing red turbans on the heads dead on the ground," local resident Mohamed Haji Ali told CNN by phone from a house near where the clashes took place. Other residents provided a similar death toll.
The commissioner whose house was attacked, Ahmed Da'd, said that his soldiers killed 17 insurgents. He displayed what he said were some of the dead insurgents for the media.
It is not clear what will happen if the Ethiopian troops remain in Mogadishu despite the October 26 peace deal. Under that agreement, government and opposition members will form a 10,000-member joint police force to keep order, along with the African Union peacekeeping mission now in place and a U.N. force to be deployed later. Both sides will work toward establishing a unity government in Somalia, which has been riven by 17 years of strife since the collapse of its last fully functional government.
Ethiopia invaded Somalia in December 2006 to install the transitional government in Mogadishu after a decade and a half of near-anarchy. The invasion had the blessing of the United States, which accused the Islamic Courts Union -- which captured Mogadishu earlier that year -- of harboring fugitives from al Qaeda. The Islamists responded with a guerrilla campaign against government and Ethiopian troops.
Efforts to replace the Ethiopians with an African Union-led peacekeeping mission faltered as the violence worsened, and heavy fighting in Mogadishu and other cities drove hundreds of thousands from their homes. The lawlessness also spilled on to the seas off the Horn of Africa, where international vessels are routinely hijacked by suspected Somali pirates who demand large ransoms.

Somali Men Off Twin Cities Streets

Medeshi
The Missing: Somali Men Off Twin Cities Streets, Back in Somalia
Somali community fears young men leaving to fight holy war
Last Edited: Sunday, 23 Nov 2008
MINNEAPOLIS -- Young Somali men are vanishing off the streets of the Twin Cities. More than 20 have left in the last few months, and the community fears they’ve gone back to Somalia to fight in a holy war.
Video: The Missing
They’re known in the Somali community simply at The Missing. More than 20 young Somali men, between the ages of 17 and 22, who have left the Twin Cities in the last few months, without a single word to their families.
The families and community leaders believe the men have gone back to fight in a bloody civil war, in which Al Quiada is a major player.
"They're concerned emotional and in shock,” Omar Jamal, of the Somali Justice Center said. “They're completely grief stricken.
From multiple sources in the Somali community, FOX 9 has learned eight men are believed to have left on August 1, and another ten on November 4.
Flight itineraries discovered by their families show they left Minneapolis to take the winding trip back, through Dubai, Nairobi, Malindi, Kenya, where they’re believed to have snuck in by boat to Somalia.
Then, last week, five families went to the FBI, worries their kids were part of some jihad in Somalia. For their part, the FBI would not confirm or deny whether they have an ongoing investigation.
Shiek Imam Abdighani Ali is on of the few religious leaders who would discuss The Missing. He believes someone is organizing the trips.
“A lot of parents coming to us asking where their kid is going,” Ali said. “We are trying to find out who financed (the trips). They are 17 years old, $1,700 dollars and most of them didn't work."
Some of The Missing are believed to be former gang members, escaping the street violence that’s claimed the life of seven young Somali men this year. Others are in college, and some were said to be deeply religious.
The irony is their families risked everything to escape the violence and religious wars, yet something or someone is luring the young men back.
Some of their families told FOX 9 they are under pressure from law enforcement and religious leaders to not talk about The Missing.
At least one mother has received a phone call from her son. He told her he was in Somalia, but would not tell her what he was doing there.